Dragonlord

Ep 192. Get Used To It. (4)

Ep 192. Get Used To It. (4)

Eline’s eyes began to twinkle as she beheld – for the first time in a long while – a functioning marketplace.

With two trusted companions, one in her arms and one walking alongside, the herbalist began to sort through all sorts of goods that were laid out in Partivine’s open stalls.

Being so occupied, she failed to register all the looks she was getting; Theolus was comfortably curled up in her arms and couldn’t care less.

Hence, the only one that did notice all the wary looks was Xerun.

…But he was glaring back at each of them, so it all worked out.

“Definitely need these…these too…oh, you have nasmoth extracts! Excuse me, can I buy the entire basket here?”

“…The whole basket?”

The stallkeep curiously examined the herbalist and the peculiar lizard she seemed to be holding. Despite the coin that was in her hands, he was rather reluctant to hand over such a large amount of anesthetic extracts; they were beyond toxic in larger doses.

“You sure you need that much, lass? A handful of these could bring down a Gron…”

“Oh, don’t worry! They’re for dragons. Honestly, I could probably use a second basket if you have it.”

“…They’re for who?”

Wondering if he’d misheard, the stallkeep’s gaze drifted back to the hatchling in Eline’s arms – who he’d so far thought was just a peculiar lizard.

He then focused his attention on Xthe gold-horned figure, standing tall by the herbalist’s side.

In response, the elder dragon summoned a pair of golden wings, raising his hand into the air as small bolts of lightning sparked to life around his arm.

And finally, Xerun answered the stallkeep in Eline’s stead.

“Dragons.”

“…”

Fortunately, this stallkeep didn’t flee their own stall like the last one did.

Unfortunately, he was already on the floor after a single hiccup, no longer conscious enough to receive payment for his wares.

“…”

Sighing, Eline shot her tall companion another glare.

“I told you not to do the lightning thing. People get scared when you do that…did you already forget how the officers tried to kick you out at the city gates? We wouldn’t even be here if the dragonlord didn’t speak for us!”

“That’s their problem, not mine.”

“…Ohoho, really now? I can change that.”

“? How so?”

“Like…by telling Elder Ardion you were scaring poor store owners left and right?”

“…”

The gold dragon’s wings immediately returned to being hidden. The bolts of lightning also fizzled out, as if they’d never been there to begin with.

“…I shall err on the side of caution.”

Beaming a short grin, Eline continued on with her shopping spree – that is, after waking up the stallkeep to pay her sum.

Any item she bought soon became an extra bag for the gold dragon to carry. After all, she was busy enough picking items, paying their price, and holding Theolus while showing him what a human city was like.

‘…This is all for the kin. This is all for the kin…’

The night deepened as the elder dragon repeated the mantra in his head.

They’d be leaving Partivine shortly, anyways – Eline couldn’t keep away from the valley too long, lest her patients worsen in condition.

But still, as short as their stay was…it definitely wasn’t going to be her last visit here.

And it definitely wasn’t going to be Xerun’s last time accompanying her here, either.

✧   ✧   ✧

Meanwhile, Karas was elsewhere entirely. He’d made a small detour to show Eline and Xerun to the markets, but he’d parted ways with them thereafter.

“…It’s been a while.”

As the professor wove his fingers over his institute’s library entrance in a peculiar manner, the sealing spell soon shimmered to form, unlocking itself thereafter.

The wooden door then creaked open on its own – and the familiar sight of shelves and tomes greeted Karas’ return.

Although he’d left the place for a while now, the library’s interior was kept clean as he’d remembered. In fact, even the lights were all on.

‘Seems someone’s been taking care of things here. Has Gio finally returned to the institute? Or was it Mr. Lairaff…’

With several thoughts swirling in the back of his mind, Karas quietly began to walk along the library aisles.

“Let’s see…I’m almost positive we had a book that mentioned draconic runes. Where was it…”

“Oh, it’s right here. I already took that book.”

“…?”

When Karas suddenly heard a familiar voice within a library that he’d presumed to be empty, the professor quickly made his way along the rest of the shelves to check who it was.

And, as expected, Light was sitting at one of the circular tables. An open tome was in front of her, with a whole other stack neatly piled on the side.

“…Light? I thought you’d gone home?”

“I came here instead. You taught me how to unlock the door here, remember? You said I could come here whenever I wanted to.”

“Well, yes, but…it’s getting late today. Head home; you can come back tomorrow.”

“…”

Light quietly closed the tome she’d been reading.

But instead of getting up to leave, she remained static in place, staring at her professor without a single blink.

“…I don’t wanna go home.”

“? Why?”

A month ago, her behavior would’ve made sense: after the Reaper incident in Partivine, Light had been rather uneasy about going to her own home, even after its reconstruction was complete. The people that were once there no longer were, and the house had been nothing more than a reminder of those that were gone.

But the half did seem to grow used to things with time’s passage. If anything, she’d seemed fine with her home before they’d left for Astellion; being right next door, Karas had often seen his student returning home with Ilias. The unease in Light’s expression had long faded.

‘…Wait. That’s it.’

Ilias wasn’t here.

The only other individual who’d been there to keep the half girl company had, incidentally, remained behind in Dragon’s Valley.

Now, there really was no one back home.

“…”

After an exasperated sigh, Karas dragged over a chair to the table Light was at, taking a seat at his student’s side.

“…Actually, never mind. Far be it from me to stop my own student from studying.”

“…”

Although her lips were forming a soft grin, Light’s shaking eyes fell down to the book she’d closed.

Even though Partivine had been her home her entire life, a feeling of unease had continued to eat away at her conscience. Feelings of loss she’d struggled to forget were beginning to surface again.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

And her professor was worriedly studying his student’s conflicted expression.

“…Light. Forget about what happened at Asarda.”

“…Eh?”

At first, Light had thought her professor was just trying to change the topic with pointless banter.

But when she raised her gaze again, she could easily see that Karas was being as serious as ever.

“…Why? I got to use magic outside of class, I got to talk back to a deity…I even learned a bit about who I was a hundred years ago. It was a pretty fun trip.”

“Fun?...”

“Yeah. I even got attacked by you.”

“…”

“The others helped me this time, but next time I’ll block it myself! Just you wait.”

Despite his student’s bright tone, Karas clenched his eyes shut, shaking his head in dismay.

“Then…at least forget about what happened with the empire.”

“Huh?...Oh, because you used to be one of them?”

“No, that no longer matters to me. But…”

When Karas trailed off in reluctance to finish his sentence, Light once again spoke up to finish it for her professor.

“…Because I killed people?”

“…”

Karas couldn’t return an answer of any kind.

During their encounter with Akeia’s soldiers, Light had clearly used magic – with intent – to harm the Akeian soldiers.

And in that process, a number of them had passed away.

Affirming was no different than branding his own student as a murderer.

Denying was no different than telling a blatant lie.

But Light only grinned back at her professor, as if she was well aware of the dilemma he was struggling with in his head.

“You were worried about that, huh? It was all in self-defence.”

“…Even so, harming another person with magic is strictly forbidden. If you were to admit it publicly, then…”

It’s okay.”

“…”

“It’s okay. Really.”

The quickness in Light’s response wasn’t because she hadn’t thought the matter though.

In fact, it was because she’d thought the matter through and through already.

Murder that involved magic was one of the worst crimes a mage could commit. Circumstances aside, a mere student killing someone else through magic was reason enough to be shunned and branded as a heinous criminal. Combined with some of the things she’d said to a deity’s face, some may even argue that the half girl deserved nothing short of a death sentence.

Before, Light would’ve cared about this sort of thing.

In fact, there was no way she wouldn’t have cared. It was an extremely sensitive topic, and she’d violated one of the most obvious rules among mages.

But to this day, she didn’t regret doing what she’d done.

Light felt no guilt for killing those soldiers. Even if she were to go back in time, she would’ve done the exact same.

“Before, when we went to see the doctor…I hardly did anything there. I still regret that.”

“…Doctor?”

“Dr. Eisenhoff. Even when I saw him again, I just…stood there.”

“…”

“Ilias and Serenis did everything. Even though it was my own problem.”

“…Light, that’s different. They’re dragons; even if the entirety of mankind shuns them, those two aren’t impacted whatsoever. But you’re-”

“I’m fine too.”

“…What?”

“I’m fine too. It’s okay.”

Even if she were to be branded as a criminal, Light’s only worry would’ve been how disappointed her parents would be.

But she no longer had parents to be disappointed in their daughter.

She no longer had friends that would point fingers at her.

“…Besides, what’s the worst that could happen? A death sentence? After what’s happened, that doesn’t seem too bad.”

“Light! Even as a joke, you shouldn’t say such things.”

“Pft. If I really do receive a death sentence, are you going to come and save me?”

“…That’s a pointless question. You’re not going to be sentenced to death.”

“Oh? That’s not a no. I guess you really would consider saving me, huh?”

“…”

Light let out a soft laughter as she watched her teacher’s unease growing by the second, seemingly conflicted between law and morals.

“You like me too much.”

 “…No teacher would welcome losing their student.”

“Maybe. But not many would break the law to save their student, either.”

“That’s only assuming you actually did something wrong. What you were doing was self-defence.”

“Hey, now you’re just stealing what I said!”

Somehow, the conversation had gone in full circle: the end result being Karas defending his supposedly criminal student.

The two locked eyes midair as an awkward silence settled into the library.

And when the long silence finally broke, Light was chortling at how things had become – and Karas would follow soon after.

With similar thoughts in mind, the two exchanged silent vows – to never speak of the matter again.

I’ll always be right here.

And I’ll never lose you again.